


What Are You?

by OceanMelon



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, First Meetings, Gen, forest-sprite!Hinata, grumpy-General!Kageyama, no real relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-11 17:02:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5634778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanMelon/pseuds/OceanMelon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hinata Shouyou is the forest. At least that's what he'd like Kageyama to believe. And he is beginning to believe it. It's ridiculous, of course it is, and he wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it for himself. Seen how Hinata passes in and out of the trees, how his appearance changes with the season, how he can feel the furthest reaches of the forest while still sitting by Kageyama's side. Perhaps, Kageyama thinks, it isn't so ridiculous after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This was an AU idea I posted on my tumblr quite some time ago but I had given up ever managing to write it. It ended up being about three trillion times harder to write than I expected, so apologies for the shortness. Hope you like it all the same.

The forest canopy mirrored the colour of the setting sun. Beneath, it was like the ocean; dark and deep other than where the last of the day’s light shone through in bands. The pale tree branches glowed dimly in the half-light and a soft breeze shook them gently. Dead leaves, the build up of many years, thickly coated the forest floor. And over these leaves, one set of boots walked unhurriedly. 

Hinata watched the figure walk from within the trees. He felt the pattering of feet as creatures fled from its presence and listened as the sound of its footsteps was drowned out by the evening birdsong. Yet, no matter how long he watched, the figure never raised its head and its eyes remained unfocused.

Hinata sped the wind between the trees, bending branches and whipping leaves, and still the figure didn’t look up. 

He let out a small huff of frustration.

Why won’t this creature look?

_ Just look at me! _

Hinata closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate. He formed the image in his mind. Two legs, like the creature. Two arms, two hands, one nose, one mouth. He held the image and felt himself slip out of the trees, felt the forest grow dim in his senses as he came apart from it.

“Hello,” he said when it was done and he opened his eyes again.

The figure looked up.

It glared into the canopy, eyes finally focused, with one hand on the thin rod that hung at its hip.

“Hello, there!” called Hinata again.

This time the creature’s eyes met his as Hinata sat above it on a tree branch. 

The figure frowned.

Its body slackened and it returned to trudging over dead leaves. 

Hinata clicked his tongue and stepped out of the shadows in front of the mysterious creature. After all, it had been a long time since he’d taken physical form. Perhaps the thing hadn’t seen him.

It saw him this time.

It jumped back, hand on the rod again.

Hinata smiled.

_ You finally looked at me! _

“Hello! What are you?” he said.

The thing frowned again -- or perhaps that was its natural expression -- before it sighed.

“Great. Just my luck. A tiny kid.” Its voice was deep and hoarse, like the air after a storm.

Hinata liked it.

“Well?” said the creature. “What do you want? You lost or something?”

“No.”

The thing stared at Hinata for a moment before it pushed passed him.

“Whatever,” it grumbled, setting off between the trees again. 

Hinata jogged to catch up with it, matching his strides to its and folding his hands behind his back.

Its eyes flicked to him for a second but it stayed silent.

“What are you?” said Hinata again.

“What do you mean, ‘what’? Doesn’t the uniform give it away?”

The creature answered questions with questions so Hinata did the same.

“Uniform?”

It huffed irritably and increased its pace again.

Hinata tried a different approach.

“I am Hinata. Do you have a name?”

The thing stopped walking. So did Hinata. The thing glared. Hinata smiled back.

At last, it started walking again.

“That’s not your real name. You think I’m stupid enough to believe you just coincidently have the same name as this forest?”

“Yes?”

“Oi,” it warned, reaching for the rod at its hip again.

“I am this forest,” Hinata clarified.

It sighed with the air of a long-suffering parent.

“K-Kageyama,” it said quietly. “And I’m a General in the military -- or, at least, I  _ was _ .”

“Whoa! A general!” Hinata’s eyes shone and the trees overhead bent down fractionally to listen more closely. “I’ve never heard of that sort of animal! It sounds really cool!”

“It’s not an animal!” snapped the general. “It’s a rank and --” It stopped. “Why do I bother? I’m not going to play your games.”

The general pulled something from a fold in its clothes. The thing was circular and gold with a transparent face. A twig was pinned to the face and twitched back and forth, spinning slowly as the device was turned but always pointing in the same direction.

K-Kageyama the general stared at the twitching twig for a second before altering its course slightly through the forest and tucking the instrument back into its clothes.

“Where are you going?” asked Hinata, still staring at the fold the small gold circle had disappeared into.

“Home,” replied the general.

“Is that a different forest?”

“No, I live in a house, like a normal person.”

“A house?”

The general gritted its teeth and clenched its hands into fists.

“K-Kageyama?” Hinata asked worriedly.

“It’s just Kageyama and I’m not going to play with you anymore. Don’t you have your own house to go home to about now?”

It was angry, that much Hinata could tell but about what he had no idea.

“I live wherever the trees are,” he said, tilting his head slightly in confusion.

Three seconds passed. The general took a deep breath. Then it took hold of the top of Hinata’s skull in one hand. It tightened the vice.

“Leave. Me. Alone.” The general spat the words out and tossed Hinata backwards.

Hinata frowned but stepped back into the shadows all the same, letting himself melt back into the trees.

After all, he had discovered, generals are frightening creatures when mad.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kageyama's perspective with a little bit extra on the end to get us into the actual plot.

It was too hot to be autumn and definitely far too hot to be walking through the middle of a forest. The trees did practically nothing to keep the heat off. They just trapped it inside like a giant natural greenhouse and, with no wind to speak of, Kageyama soon found himself with sweat pouring down his back. He swiped at it angrily with a hand across the back of his neck. 

The trees watched on in silent mockery at his discomfort. He frowned at them but kept his head down and his eyes focused on the half-formed path beneath his feet.

Kageyama ignored the shadows cast by half-bare branches across the path before him and the soft leaves beneath his feet, deadening his footsteps. All he wanted was to get through this stupid forest as quickly as possible and go home. To forget that whole day ever happened.

“Hello,” a cheery voice said from seemingly all around. 

Kageyama’s head shot up. 

_ No, that was crazy. There is no way  _ trees  _ can talk.  _

He forced his eyes back onto the path and kept marching.

“Hello, there!” the voice said again.

Kageyama stopped walking. He’d definitely heard something that time. 

He placed one hand on his sword and turned where he stood to take in the whole forest. 

Nothing. The forest was empty and he could hear nothing more than the distant sound of bird-calls and the wind through the last of the leaves that still clung to branches. 

He shook his head and continued on. 

Suddenly, there was someone standing right there before him. He reached for his sword again, face set in a grimace and ready for battle. Could it be a deserter? Or perhaps someone from the enemy army. Whatever the case, Kageyama was ready.

He stopped. He blinked once -- then twice. 

“Hello! What are you?” said the stranger. 

Kageyama frowned. A child. A child had cornered him in the woods. He had almost killed a child.

He sighed. “Great, just my luck. A tiny kid.”

The child stared back at him. Eyes large and round and honey-gold. His hair was the colour of the autumn leaves and grew haphazardly around his face as if he’d never cut it with any particular style in mind. The boy didn’t blink quite often enough and Kageyama felt his own eyes begin to water in sympathy. 

But still the kid said nothing.

“Well?” said Kageyama. “What do you want? You lost or something?”

“No,” replied the child and continued to stare at him.

There was something odd about this kid. Other than the way his blinks seemed too far apart, his face had moved oddly when he spoke. There was something not quite right. As if he was only mimicking the action rather than performing it of his own free will. But perhaps that wasn’t it. It was more subtle than that and Kageyama couldn’t quite put a name to the strangeness. 

Eventually, he shook his head and pushed passed the boy, knocking his shoulder as he did so. 

“Whatever,” he grumbled and forced his eyes to focus back on the barely-there path beneath his feet. 

The child ran after him but Kageyama made an effort to ignore him. 

He walked strangely too. Somehow stiff but also weightless.

_ No.  _ Kageyama thought. He wouldn’t get involved. 

“What are you?” asked the boy and Kageyama frowned.

Was this kid thick?

“What do you mean ‘what’? Doesn’t the uniform give it away?” He gestured down at the navy blue military uniform he wore, the half a dozen medals pinned to his chest and the stars across his shoulder that denoted his rank. 

The boy blinked. “Uniform?”

Kageyama huffed out his frustration with the child. He was the adult here. He would need to be mature.

He walked a little faster, hoping his adult-sized strides could outmatch the child’s but the kid kept up with ease, still with that strange weightlessly stiff gait. 

“I am Hinata,” said the child. “Do you have a name?”

Kageyama stopped walking. The memory of the night before came to mind. A map spread on a table in a military tent, pinned down at the corners with weights and a handful of officers gathered nervously around it. There had been the encampment and the enemy line and the Hinata Forest that blocked off the retreat.

Kageyama frowned but the boy only gave him a glowing smile in return.

“That’s not your real name,” he said as he started walking again. The boy jogged a few steps to catch up. “You think I’m stupid enough to believe you just coincidently have the same name as this forest?”

“Yes?” replied the boy. It was a question for some reason.

“Oi,” Kageyama warned, hand on the hilt of his sword again.

“I am this forest,” the boy said seriously as if to clarify.

Kageyama sighed again. Yep definitely thick.

“K-Kageyama,” he said eventually, hating that he had stuttered. This was only a child, for heaven’s sake! “And I’m a General in the military -- or at least, I  _ was _ .” He said the last part to himself so he couldn’t be sure if ‘Hinata’ had heard. 

“Whoa! A general!” cried the boy and for some reason the word ‘General’ from his mouth sounded more along the lines of ‘general manager at a grocery store’. “I’ve never heard of that sort of animal! It sounds really cool!”

Kageyama turned on the kid with a snarl. “It’s not an animal! It’s a rank and --” Really, there was a limit even to thickness but this kid seemed to have surpassed it. “Why do I bother? I’m not going to play your games.”

He turned back to the path, focusing his eyes with determination. He would not talk to the boy again. He would not even look at the boy again. But there was something so drawing about that face that didn’t move quite as expected and those eyes that glowed like the setting sun. So he took his compass from his pocket and checked it again, desperate to have something to do instead. And, the boy had distracted him but it probably was time he did check again. 

The Hinata Forest was rumoured to be home to wolves, big-cats and other large predators. That was just one of the reasons that it had blocked the retreat. Whatever the truth of the rumour, Kageyama wanted to be out of it before the sun set entirely. Getting lost was not a good idea just then. Perhaps taking the shortcut hadn’t been a good idea to begin with.

NNE. He was slightly off course. He turned slightly to line up with the needle and  continued to march through the undergrowth, following animal tracks where he could but otherwise facing the brush alone. 

The child continued to follow him, seemingly having no trouble with the bushes that scratched against his calves. 

“Where are you going?” asked the boy, still staring at Kageyama’s ribs where he had pocketed the compass.

“Home,” replied Kageyama bruskly. Perhaps if he kept his answers short, ‘Hinata’ would get sick of him and leave him alone.

“Is that a different forest?” No such luck.

“No, I live in a house, like a normal person.”

“A house?”

Kageyama gritted his teeth. 

_ You are an adult and he is a child. Be mature. Be mature. Be mature.  _

He repeated the words in his head like a mantra. 

“K-Kageyama?” Somehow the stutter didn’t sound like an accident.

Was this kid mocking him?

“It’s just Kageyama and I’m not going to play with you anymore. Don’t you have your own house to go home to about now?” I was already almost dark.

“I live wherever the trees are,” said the boy and Kageyama snapped.

Enough was enough. This child could only play him for a fool for so long. He took a deep breath to at least be able to control his frustrations before he reached out and grabbed the kid’s head with one massive hand. He forced the kid to look into his eyes, to know that he was serious, before he spat out three words.

“Leave. Me. Alone.”

Then he pushed the child back and stomped off as fast as he could through the trees. After all, if the kid really did live in the forest, he couldn’t be far from home. Sure enough, when Kageyama turned around a few dozen angry paces later, the boy was nowhere to be seen.

 

** 

 

It was dark by the time Kageyama finally reached the edge of the forest. His compass had become useless hours earlier when the light dipped so low he could no longer see its face. Beyond the trees, he could just make out a town in the distance. A town where he could get a drink and good food to eat and a warm bed to sleep in, a town where he could forget for a little while. The lights flickered in people’s windows and Kageyama paused for a moment, catching his breath as he leant against the trunk of a large tree. They looked so inviting, like a familiar face, like home, and he felt the corners of his eyes warm at the thought of being back in his house, tucked up in bed like the last few weeks -- and particularly the last day or so -- had never happened. But he didn’t let the tears fall, he didn’t even let them form. Instead he sniffed once, set his brow into a stern frown befitting a Military General, and set off again.

He took three steps out of the trees before he stopped again.

It was cold out there, out of the shelter of the forest, and now the once warm lights in the town up ahead seemed cold and blue, distant and unwelcoming. 

Kageyama took a moment to look around. He was standing in the middle of an empty field. The summer crops had already been brought in and the ones planted for winter had yet to break the surface of the soil. It was a huge, open, lonely space and the wind blew softly through it, rustling his hair and tugging at his clothes with impatient fingers.

He took one last look at the lights in the distance and flopped to the ground.

Who was he kidding? He couldn’t go home. What would he say to people? What would he say to his mother? His little brother? They’d had such high hopes for him, they’d been so proud and now… No, he couldn’t go home. He didn’t deserve it. He deserved the empty field, forever waiting for new life, and the silent wind.

So he sat and waited for whatever would happen next. He gave his life up to fate.

“Are you alright?” the trees at his back seemed to ask.

Kageyama whirled around, getting to his knees to reach for his sword.

A bright orange leaf fell just then, catching the moonlight, and his eyes followed it as it wound its way between branches and twigs never quite touching anything until it floated past something equally bright and his eyes stopped.

“God dammit…” he grumbled and sat back down, facing away from the boy and towards the guilty pull of home. “What do you want now?”

Hinata sat high in the tree, legs dangling off the side of the branch. He seemed perfectly at home there, as if absolutely sure that the forest would never betray him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there is actually more to this story. In my head, at least. Again, I would love to write it -- I probably will write it at some point seeing as this chapter was easier to write than the first -- but I'm just about to go into the really busy period at uni so I don't know when I'll next have the opportunity to write for myself... :(  
> Whatever ends up happening, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks so much for reading and I'll be back as soon as I can!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I'd love to hear from you :) Even if you just want to tell me you hated it, go ahead and leave a comment. I won't mind just so long as you tell me why so I can fix my shortcomings :)


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